New Delhi: The newly-elected Bharatiya Janata Party government in Rajasthan added 22 leaders to the state ministry Saturday, with 12 of them being sworn in as cabinet ministers, five as ministers of state (independent charge) and five as ministers of state.
The new inductees to Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma’s council of ministers include former MPs Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Kirodi Lal Meena and four MLAs who are among loyalists of former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia, in what is being seen as an attempt to mollify the disgruntled former CM ahead of the the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP had overlooked Scindia’s claims while making a choice for the CM’s post in the state. The former CM, who was also seen as being sidelined during the party’s campaign for the 2023 Rajasthan assembly elections, went on to win from the state’s Jhalrapatan seat.
In a new twist, among Saturday’s Rajasthan ministry inclusions are Surendra Pal Singh, the party’s candidate for the 5 January polls for the Karanpur seat. Polling in Karanpur was earlier adjourned following the death of a Congress candidate and is now scheduled for 5 January. Singh’s inclusion in the ministry is being seen as an attempt by the BJP to influence voters, and the Congress has reportedly already spoken out against it.
The name conspicuous by its absence is that of self-styled religious leader and the BJP’s Hindutva face in Rajasthan, Baba Balaknath. Balaknath had earlier been said to be a CM contender.
Talking about the ministry inclusion, a senior BJP leader speaking on condition of anonymity told ThePrint, “the council of ministers has been made to reward the common workers of the party, most of those included in the ministry are those who have not served as minister before. This is part of the party’s strategy to bring generational change [younger leaders] and reward those workers who did not find a place in power structure.”
The BJP leader added: “How many times will the same people become ministers? [Here] for experience, we have people like Kirodi Lal Meena, Madan Dilawar and Rajyavardhan Rathore. Among the new faces, we have Sanjay Sharma from Alwar and Babu Lal Kharadi, who have gained popularity for their work. The ministry is a combination of experience and new energy.”
Elections to 199 of 200 Rajasthan assembly seats were held in November, with the results being declared on 3 December. After the BJP came to power in the state, winning 115 of the 199 seats and defeating the incumbent Congress, the party chose Brahmin leader Sharma as the CM to lead the government in the state. It also chose Diya Kumari, a Rajput, and Prem Chand Bairwa, a Dalit leader, as deputy CMs.
A senior BJP leader from Rajasthan had earlier told ThePrint that Sharma’s choice as CM was political necessity because of “competing caste interests” in Rajasthan.
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Surendra Pal Singh’s ministry elevation a new gimmick?
Talking about Singh’s inclusion in the ministry, a BJP leader from Rajasthan told ThePrint that “under the Constitution there is clear provision of inducting any person as minister and that the person would then have to be elected within six months. There is no proprietary issue involved in his selection as minister.”
However, the Congress’ Rajasthan unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra has reportedly said the party will bring Singh’s inclusion in the ministry ahead of the 5 January elections to the Election Commission’s notice.
Seventy-two-year-old Singh, who had earlier served as minister under former CM Scindia, started his career in politics but gave up a job in the railways.
Meanwhile, the 12 inductees to Sharma’s cabinet include Kirodi Lal Meena, Madan Dilawar, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Gajendra Singh Khimsar, Babulal Kharadi, Jogaram Patel, Suresh Singh Rawat, Avinash Gehlot, Joraram Kumawat, Hemant Meena, Kanhaiya Lal Choudhary, Sumit Godara.
Meena is a former Rajya Sabha member and apart from his experience, his inclusion in the cabinet is being seen as a recognition of his efforts to boost the party’s popularity in east Rajasthan, where the BJP made huge gains this election. A tribal leader, Meena has also been consistently attacking the previous Congress government in the state over issues such as unemployment and examination paper leak scams.
Rathore, a former Olympian on the other hand is seen as the face of the younger generation of Rajputs in the state, along with erstwhile royal Diya Kumari, who was earlier made deputy CM.
While Khimsar is a Vasundhara loyalist, and had been minister in both Scindia cabinets, he is also perceived to be a down-to-earth Rajput face in the state’s Marwar region.
On the other hand, Babulal Kharadi’s selection is said to be a reward to the party’s common workers, in an effort to reach grassroot workers. Kharadi, a tribal face, was earlier chosen as “best MLA” in the assembly.
Madan Dilawar, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, the BJP’s ideological fountainhead) face, is also a prominent Dalit face, while Jogaram Patel is an other backward class (OBC) face from Marwar, known as an expert in parliamentary affairs. He had earlier served as the parliamentary affairs secretary during the Scindia government.
While there are 17 first-time ministers in the council, eight of the cabinet ministers are first timers. Only five have prior experience of handling a ministry.
Striking a caste balance
With the new inductees, CM Bhajanlal Sharma’s council of ministers now includes three Rajput leaders Diya Kumari, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Gajendra Singh Khimsar.
Meanwhile, CM Sharma and Sanjay Sharna, a minister of state (independent charge), represent the Brahmins. State BJP president, C.P. Joshi is also a Brahmin.
From the Scheduled Castes (SC) community community there are three ministers — including one deputy CM — Madan Dilawar, Prem Chand Bairwa and Manju Baghmar.
Meanwhile, Kirodi Lal Meena, Babulal Kharadi and Hemant Meena represent the Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the ministry, Gautam Kumar is the Vaishya face, K.K. Bishnoi is from the Bishnoi community and Surendra Pal Singh represents the Sikh community.
From the Jats, one of the most prominent communities in the state, there’s Kanhaiya Lal Choudhary, Sumit Godara, Jhabar Singh Kharra and Vijay Singh Choudhary. Jogaram Patel is the Patel face, Jawahar Singh Bedam a Gurjar, Suresh Singh Rawat represents the Rawat community and Joraram Kumawat represents the Kumawat community.
In its selection of ministers in Rajasthan, the BJP has focussed on non-dominant OBC classes, by including representatives from communities like Kumawat, Rawat and Bishnoi, for a balanced social engineering, as in Uttar Pradesh.
According to the party estimates, Rajputs form nine percent of Rajasthan’s population and, within the SC/ST block, Dalits account for 17 percent.
Brahmins are the third-most numerically strong community in Rajasthan, after Jats and Rajputs, and constitute eight percent of the state’s population, sources told ThePrint, adding that they hold sway over 30 assembly seats. Jats are said to comprise 12 percent of the population in the state.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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